Month: March 2021

In a new interview with The Rock N Roll Channel on TalkShopLive, Paul Stanley reflected on KISS’s New Year’s Eve performance in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

“It was surreal, because, like everybody, we’ve been in basic quarantine for a year,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “And when this idea came up to do a New Year’s Eve show in Dubai, it was interesting, but it became more interesting. It was, ‘And we’ll build this massive stage.’ It took 500 people to build that stage. ‘And we’ll have the largest fireworks display ever.’ I forget how many millions of dollars was spent on pyro. Everything was just top grade.

“We flew in on Emirates [airline], and everybody — all the staff and all the crew, and they were awesome people; I can’t say enough about Emirates; it was a fabulous experience — but everybody was dressed in PPE [personal protective equipment]; they were all dressed in protective gear,” he continued. “And there was a hospital filtration system on the plane. And we wore masks for the flight. When we landed, we were basically quarantined at the hotel. So we didn’t get out and see things. It had a very surreal quality to it. But Dubai was amazing. And we had spent weeks here in the States rehearsing, but, again, under very strict COVID precautions. And we were tested almost daily. The crew was tested daily.

“It was a huge undertaking — kind of like going from zero to 60 in one second, because one minute you’re in quarantine, and the next minute, you’re on stage playing a worldwide telecast,” Stanley added. “Beyond that, I have to say the pyrotechnics… First of all, the flames — our flames are always hot, and people tell us in the arenas that they can feel ’em in the back of the arena. These flame throwers — it was like being next to a furnace. It was frightening, but it was glorious. And then at the end of the show, the pyrotechnics display that started was like a finale of any other pyrotechnics display. I mean, it was — I don’t know — 10 minutes of finale. It was insane. And that will be coming out. It was mind-boggling.

“And then, [we] went back to the hotel, cleaned up and got back on the plane and flew home. So it really had a surreal quality. ‘Did we really do that?’ But it was amazing. And it was great to be with the band.”

As previously reported, KISS’s Dubai concert broke Guinness world records for highest flame projection in a music concert and for most flame projections launched simultaneously in a music concert.

Landmarks Live Presents produced the $10 million spectacular, which was filmed with more than 50 4K cameras and 360-degree views and was held on a massive 250-foot stage at The Royal Beach at Atlantis.

KISS partnered with event company Tixr to beam the “Kiss 2020 Goodbye” show around the world.

KISS reportedly cleaned up its act for to the Dubai concert, apparently out of respect for local customs and beliefs. Gene Simmons’s blood-spitting stunt was missing during his bass solo, and the words “bitch” and “virgin soul” were removed from the lyrics of “100,000 Years” and “God of Thunder”, respectively, the latter replaced by “sacred soul.” Other songs reportedly had minor lyrical changes as well.

KISS launched its farewell trek in January 2019 but was forced to put it on hold last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“End Of The Road” was originally scheduled to conclude on July 17, 2021 in New York City but is now expected to last well into 2022.

KISS’s current lineup consists of original members Stanley and Simmons, alongside later band additions, guitarist Tommy Thayer (since 2002) and drummer Eric Singer (on and off since 1991).

AXS TV recently sat down with legendary BON JOVI frontman Jon Bon Jovi to ask him questions submitted by fans. From how he builds a setlist, what advice he would give to his 18-year-old self, his favorite tour memory with Richie Sambora, get to know Jon a little more with this exclusive 12-minute interview below.

Asked how he goes about putting together a setlist for a BON JOVI concert, Jon said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Let’s pretend that on an average night, there’s 23 or 24 songs. 15 of ’em are gonna have to be the hits, which leaves me eight songs to play with. Four are probably gonna be new songs, which is gonna make the artist happy, and then two of ’em get to be the crazy album track or cover song that you just feel like getting your jukebox on. And that’s pretty much what you’re relegated to — simply because if I come to your town and I don’t play ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ or ‘It’s My Life’ or ‘[You Give Love A] Bad Name’ again, you’re gonna be disappointed. I don’t wanna disappoint you.

“I remember when I was a kid seeing a couple of guys that I grew up listening to who ended up playing reggae versions of their classic hits, ’cause they were tired of playing ’em,” he continued. “And I was at, like, a bingo hall watching ’em play. I was, like, ‘I get why you’re doing it, but this is the first time I ever got to see you, and I’m crushed.’

“So, [fans] wanna hear ‘Prayer’ and ‘It’s My Life’ and ‘Bad Name’ and ‘Wanted [Dead Or Alive]’ the way they were written and recorded.”

BON JOVI’s latest album, “2020”, was released last October via Island Records. Once again co-produced by John Shanks and Jon Bon Jovi, the record features the entire touring band — keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, bassist Hugh McDonald, guitarist Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley, and guitarist John Shanks.

Over an illustrious career spanning more than three decades since its formation in 1983, BON JOVI has earned their place among global rock royalty and was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as well as the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. With over 130 million albums sold worldwide, and extensive catalog of hit anthems, thousands of concerts performed in more than 50 countries for more than 35 million fans, and ticket grosses well over $1 billion around the world in the last decade alone, BON JOVI is the consummate rock and roll band.

During an appearance on Wednesday’s (March 17) episode of SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, PAPA ROACH frontman Jacoby Shaddix spoke about how he has been handling the coronavirus pandemic. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It was nice to spend some time with my family, to be completely honest. But then, after a while, it started to wear on me, man, and it started to fuck with my head a bit. I’ve had my struggles with sobriety throughout the years, and I fell back into smoking weed and fell off the wagon on my program. I didn’t go back to drinking, but I was just trying to numb myself ’cause I guess I had too much time on my hands, to be completely honest. And I had to put a stop to that and restart my sobriety. That’s kind of been a little bit of a challenge, but sometimes you get shaken up and it puts things back in perspective. So getting creative was one of those forces that really gave me a sense of purpose outside of being a father and a husband — just exercising this creative element of my life.”

Elaborating on why he went back to using marijuana while in quarantine, Jacoby said: “My world just got real small. I felt disconnected. And there’s a lot to be grateful for here in my home; I’ve got an amazing wife and great children. But when a man like myself sits around with idle hands, that’s the devil’s playground. And I just kind of wanted to numb myself a little bit. For some people, smoking doesn’t affect them like it affects me. Any time I put any type of mind-altering substance in my body, it really just separates me from God, it separates me from being a part of the world, it separates me from my best self. It’s just one of those things that I know where the magic lies, and it’s when I have a clear head and a clear mind and a focused spirit. I can go be, I guess, useful in the world, and I can go be part of, and not be so disconnected.”

He continued: “A lot of people have been struggling throughout this COVID [pandemic] and being locked up in their homes. You hear about teenagers struggling. I hate to say it, [but] suicide is on the rise, and that’s just terrible. We’re not meant, as humans, I believe, to be separated; we need each other, we need community, we need that element of family and interconnectedness amongst our community, and that’s what I get from the rock and roll community. It makes me feel part of something bigger than myself, and when that’s torn away from my life, it’s like a large part of myself is not there.”

Shaddix recently told Germany’s Rock Antenne that PAPA ROACH’s follow-up to 2019’s “Who Do You Trust?” album will not be released until the coronavirus pandemic has subsided.

In January, a snippet of a brand new PAPA ROACH song called “Stand Up” was included in commercial for Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) partnership with ESPN.

PAPA ROACH’s second greatest-hits collection, “Greatest Hits Vol. 2: The Better Noise Years”, is due on March 19 on Better Noise Music.

“Greatest Hits Vol. 2 – The Better Noise Years” includes 12 of the band’s top 10 hits released between 2010 to 2019 as well as three previously unreleased remixes and two unreleased acoustic recordings recorded live at the YouTube Studios in New York City.

“Who Do You Trust?” was released in January 2019. The disc was produced by Nick “RAS” Furlong and Colin Cunningham except for the song “Top Of The World”, which is helmed by Jason Evigan.

In December, PAPA ROACH released a five-song EP, “20/20”, featuring “new takes on old jams,” including “Last Resort” and “Scars”.

DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Mangini spoke to Greece’s Rock Overdose about the writing and recording process for the band’s upcoming album. Asked what fans can expect from the follow-up to 2019’s “Distance Over Time” album, Mike said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “People just can expect another upgrade. Another upgrade in what? Another upgrade in everything that we did before, taking the best of. So you take the best of each of the four albums and combine it, and here you go — here’s my fifth one. [Laughs] Because there were different ways that we made each of the albums. ‘Distance Over Time’ was the only one, to me, that I was involved with to the level that I was. And this latest one, again, upgraded — meaning I was way more involved, even, than normal. And I don’t mean to say ‘I’; it’s not about me. It’s everybody. So, by default, everybody was more involved in a way where you go around a room and express anything you wanted to express right at that moment for that part in the song. So it was really cool like that.”

Regarding the musical direction of the new DREAM THEATER material, Mike said: “I wanna use the words properly. It’s really energetic. It doesn’t mean that it is not a metal album, it doesn’t mean that everything is heavy. My words shouldn’t be misinterpreted with words I never even used, so I have to be really clear to use words and be clear about the words that I don’t mean. But ‘energetic’… The energy of each of the sections, either with an interesting rhythmic thing or a tempo or a melody that’s really powerful and engaging is what I’m talking about. So when you hear a song, before you know it, the song’s over. And the songs are lengthy. So that’s a sign — that’s a sign of what I mean. And anybody can interpret what I’m saying however they want to, but I’ll repeat that so it’s really clear. Whenever we finished writing a song and we listened to it, we were always shocked at the length, because it seemed like it went by — it flew by. That means that our engagement and the excitement and the energy about that was present for the whole song. And that’s what I mean.”

Asked when fans will get to hear the first song from the upcoming DREAM THEATER LP, Mangini said: “I can only estimate that since we probably will release the record in September of this year that people will probably hear something a certain amount of weeks before it comes out, for promotion — like a snippet. So this summer is probably when [the first taste of the album will be made available].”

Earlier this month, DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci told Metal Injection about the making of the band’s new album: “Everybody just came to the table to play. Everybody is on fire. The best ideas and best playing. And so the album, it’s lit up. There’s definitely a lot of energy and excitement to it. I’m really pumped about it.”

“Distance Over Time” marked DREAM THEATER’s first album for for Sony Music’s progressive imprint InsideOut Music. The group spent the past 25 years recording under various labels in the Warner Music Group system, most recently Roadrunner Records, which released five albums by the band between 2007 and 2016.

DREAM THEATER recently released its ninth career live album, “Distant Memories – Live In London”. Recorded at DREAM THEATER’s sold-out show at the Apollo Theatre in London, the live release documents the band’s world tour in support of “Distance Over Time” and the 20th anniversary of their seminal concept album “Metropolis Part 2 – Scenes From A Memory”.

SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor has spoken out against “cancel culture,” saying “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

Cancel culture is the idea that someone, usually a celebrity or a public figure, whose ideas or comments are considered offensive should be boycotted. These people are ostracized and shunned by former friends, followers and supporters alike, leading to declines in any careers and fanbase the individual may have at any given time.

Addressing the cancel culture issue in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Taylor said in part: “No one can handle anything anymore, which means no one can handle real talk anymore, which means everyone just wants to cancel shit, with no room for improvement. There are several people at fault for this: the right, the left, the media, celebrities, the Internet, social media, but if you’re truly looking for who’s really responsible, or more importantly irresponsible, you should probably find the nearest mirror.

“I’m not saying there aren’t things that deserve our attention,” he continued. “I’m not saying that things shouldn’t change in so many different ways. I’m not even going to tell you that you have no right to be passionate on social change. What I’m saying is pick your spots, know what the hell’s going on before you go chasing after people with pitchforks for no fucking reason whatsoever. There’s so much to be done on so many different things, you don’t have to protest everything that someone tries to hoist up the pole as a red flag.

“Be a little smarter in how you swing the hammer, because when everything is a problem, that means everyone is a suspect… including yourselves. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, to paraphrase. Nobody’s perfect; stop acting like we all should be.”

Earlier this month, Taylor said that “the ‘outrage’ age” would be the inspiration for his upcoming fifth book. “I was reading about how Gen Z is trying to cancel Eminem because of one line that was in a Rihanna song that he did with her,” he told told Matt Pinfield of 95.5 KLOS’s “New & Approved” series. “And I’m just, like, is that where we are right now? I mean, at this point, you’re talking about the Salem witch trials. You’re talking about America in the ’20s where the KKK was a political force. You’re talking about complete condemnation without context or any rationalization for an action like that. And to me, that’s [what’s] most dangerous — when the mob decides that you’re gone. That is Caesar at the Colosseum, for god’s sakes. That’s when it’s dangerous. The level of censorship that we’re starting to see… And I’m not saying that certain things haven’t been said that easily offend people. However, the flipside of that is that you can’t even make a joke anymore — even in the cleanest of situations. [People] completely turn on you. And there’s not one hint of satire, there’s no hint of irony — it’s just all-out rage, and it’s all through this [shows his smartphone]. And that’s when it’s really greedy, that’s when it’s really dirty. It can’t be that way. If we can’t have a conversation, how the hell are we gonna communicate. And if we can’t understand the difference between metaphor and complete reality, then we’re in real trouble. And that’s where I’m leaning with the book.”

Roughly one-third of Taylor’s last book, 2017’s “America 51”, was dedicated to his derision for President Donald Trump.

Corey, who is often referred to as the “Great Big Mouth” due to his outspoken views, told the 94.3 KILO radio station in a 2017 interview that he is not worried about possible fallout from his comments. “That’s part of being an American,” he explained. “I mean, nothing drives me more crazy than when somebody says to celebrities or whatever, ‘Why don’t you just stick to acting?’ And I’m, like, ‘What? Leave politics to you? Why don’t you stick to writing bad reviews in your mom’s basement? Just shut your mouth. I’m just as American as you are, I have every right to say what I want, and you can shove that kind of attitude straight up your ass.”

Taylor’s debut solo album, “CMFT”, was released in October.

In a new interview with Kerrang! Radio, LINKIN PARK’s Mike Shinoda spoke about how the band’s multi-platinum-selling debut, “Hybrid Theory” helped break down the boundaries between music styles by combining different sounds within one album.

“It’s part of the mission statement of LINKIN PARK,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “We were called HYBRID THEORY — the band was called HYBRID THEORY before [the first LINKIN PARK] album [was released]. And we played a role in it. None of us would try and claim that we broke all the boundaries between genres, but we played a role in breaking boundaries between genres.

“It’s funny, ’cause I think some of the new generation don’t even know the way things were before bands like us, and then how albums like ‘Hybrid Theory’ and so on changed the way people looked at music,” he continued. “They were born after that, and they got born into that just being the way things are — mixed genres is just the way you listen [to music]. ‘Hey, what’s your favorite type of music?’ ‘I like whatever.’

“When I was a kid, if somebody said, ‘What’s your favorite type of music?’, you had an answer — it was rap [or] it was metal, [and] it was a specific kind of metal, and that was it. ‘You listen to these things too?’ ‘No. Fuck those things.’ It’d be that serious. And now people don’t even think about it.

“I heard LED ZEPPELIN because BEASTIE BOYS sampled them,” Shinoda revealed. “My first concert was PUBLIC ENEMY with ANTHRAX and PRIMUS. So those guys were paving the way for what was teaching me about blending genres. RAGE [AGAINST THE MACHINE] had just come out. It’s crazy.”

Last September, “Hybrid Theory” was officially certified 12 times platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for sales in excess of 12 million copies.

“Hybrid Theory” was issued in October 2000 and was a breakout success for the group, which had formed in 1996 and had played the Los Angeles club scene for several years. The album yielded four massive hit singles — “One Step Closer”, “Crawling”, “Papercut” and “In The End” — while going on to sell more than 10 million copies in the U.S. alone.

LINKIN PARK singer Chester Bennington was found dead in his Los Angeles-area home on July 20, 2017 after hanging himself. LINKIN PARK headlined an all-star tribute concert for Bennington in October 2017 in Los Angeles but has not announced any future plans for recording or touring.

Former GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal has reflected on the experience of playing on the band’s much-maligned 2008 album “Chinese Democracy”.

Thal joined GUNS N’ ROSES in 2006 and appeared on “Chinese Democracy”, an effort which contained music that had been written before he came into the group. The disc took 13 years to make and was only a modest seller, moving just around half a million copies.

Thal looked back on the making of “Chinese Democracy” during an August 2020 interview with Rob’s School Of Music. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s a historic album by a historic band, and I’m grateful that I was given the opportunity to contribute to it and be part of it.

“When I joined the band, we started playing some of the songs live. From there, I got to know six or seven songs. But then, going into the studio, I was hearing a lot of things for the very first time, and you’re really on the spot, and you’re dealing with music that’s already full — it’s almost done. There’s so much going on. I mean, it’s so jam packed. Wherever you turn your ears, there’s something going on in those songs — between drums and loops and bass and keys and other keys and percussion and vocals and backing vocals and orchestra and any kind of synth stuff and all the layers of guitars and different guitar players from different periods; there’s so much going on.

“So, I remember I would be playing different ideas — for each song, maybe a hundred different ideas — in a day; in, like, 14 hours, working on a song, from start to finish,” he continued. “And I would try something that was just kind of nasty, and then something that’s a little more tight, something that’s technical, something that’s with a wah, something with a fretless, something that’s melodic, something that just feels almost like industrial [and] robotic or whatever it is — just different vibes. And the hard part to that was there was so much going on musically that you don’t wanna step on the toes or clash with anything that’s already happening. So you might make a melody, but then realize there’s already a melody there in the strings, and at one point in your melody, you might be clashing with something that’s happening in the string melody. So it was, like, ‘That won’t work.’ Or you go into a higher range, so you don’t clash with it, and then it’s, like, ‘Oh, wait. There’s that synth thing happening there.’ Or you go lower, and it’s, like, ‘Ah, it’s kind of getting eaten up by the rhythms and the bass.’ So it was a challenge to find the right place. But you’ve gotta give all credit to Axl [Rose, GUNS N’ ROSES singer] and Caram Costanzo that produced the record and made those decisions on which guitar parts they wanted to use, which ones they thought were best, which ones to mute. I would spend all day with Caram. We would play something for Axl — either send him something or whatever it was. And then, after I gave them a lot of choices to choose from, they would choose what they thought fit the song best.

“It was a different way of doing it for me, where usually I was part of the writing process,” Ron added. “So I know the song from its infancy, and watching it grow up to adding each part and changing parts, and this part leads to this new part, and, ‘Ooh, that melody. You know what? Maybe we should go back and make that chorus, let’s make that the verse and [come up with] an even better chorus’ — just the way songs grow when you nurture them. I was stepping into a fully formed, pretty much, song and had to come up with stuff.”

Last November, Thal said that “Chinese Democracy” is a “one-of-a-kind” record that will be looked upon more favorably by fans as time goes on. He told Music Is Win’s “Guitar Villains” podcast: “At the time, people were still just going on about how it took this long to make, and it took this much money, and all that nonsense. And I always said, wait 20 years. People are gonna forget about all of this stuff, all of this baggage that they’re trying to attach to this record. And they’re just gonna listen to it for what it is and just listen to it as music, and they’re gonna hear so many layers of things and such an interesting combination of parts and people and changes in even style and technology that was happening over the course of many years — let’s say 10-ish years, [from] when they started writing to [when] it actually was on the shelves in stores. And I don’t think any other album in the history of rock went through those kind of changes. So it’s a very special album with a lot of history just within each song that has layers to it. And I’m grateful that they had me on it.”

Thal never officially announced his departure from the GN’R, but a source confirmed to Detroit music writer Gary Graff back in 2015 that the guitarist had been out since the end of the band’s second Las Vegas residency in 2014.

Thal later revealed that he was focusing on his solo career and other projects after spending eight years playing in GUNS.

Thal is currently a member of SONS OF APOLLO, which also features drummer Mike Portnoy, keyboardist Derek Sherinian and bassist Billy Sheehan. SONS OF APOLLO released its second studio album, “MMXX” (pronounced: 20/20), in January 2020 via InsideOut Music/Sony.

Several more IRON MAIDEN titles will get the jigsaw puzzle treatment in May.

On May 14, Zee Productions will release “Brave New World”, “Dance Of Death”, “A Matter Of Life And Death”, “The Final Frontier” and “Stranger In A Strange Land” as 500-piece jigsaws on its Rock Saws imprint.

All 500-piece puzzles come in a vinyl-box-set-sized box, perfect to fit alongside a vinyl record collection.

Next month, Zee Productions will release “The Trooper”, “No Prayer For The Dying”, “Fear Of The Dark”, “The X Factor”, “Virtual XI” and “The Book Of Souls” as 500-piece jigsaws. “The Trooper” is also available as a 1000-piece jigsaw.

Previously released IRON MAIDEN jigsaws include “Iron Maiden”, “Killers”, “Live After Death”, “The Number Of The Beast”, “Powerslave”, “Somewhere In Time” and “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son”.

According to Toy News, Rock Saws was originally developed by Zee Productions’ own self-proclaimed metalhead Steve Beatty.

“I want to make jigsaws that are for the music fan,” Beatty said. “Vinyl came back and I loved the idea of making great record sleeve art into jigsaws, maybe stick the record on and do together.”

Beatty launched Rock Saws in 2019, promising to “revolutionize” and “breathe new life into” the puzzles scene by delivering artwork from some of the rock and heavy metal scene’s most iconic album covers. The mission started with the launch of puzzles featuring artwork from albums by SLAYER and IRON MAIDEN.

BORN OF OSIRIS makes its triumphant return with a blistering new single, “White Nile”, out now via Sumerian Records. The official music video for the song stars the members of BORN OF OSIRIS as ringleaders in the heaviest 1950s nightmare of a circus.

Speaking on the release, the band shares: “We are so excited to bring you the first taste of new music with our track ‘White Nile’.

“It has been a hard year for everyone, but we’ve been fortunate to lean on each member and each piece of this community we call BORN OF OSIRIS.

“Perseverance flows like the Nile, as so we push on. With the release of this track also comes the transition of Nick Rossi to guitar. We are thrilled to go forward with this lineup and have so much more to come.”

Watch the “White Nile” music video below and be sure to keep your eyes peeled for a new BORN OF OSIRIS album announcement coming May 3.